Silver in swimming, bronze for hurdles – more Olympic success for NL

Femke Bol in action during the final. Photo: Robin van Lonkhuijsen ANP
Femke Bol in action during the final. Photo: Robin van Lonkhuijsen ANP

The Netherlands added two medals to its Tokyo Olympics haul in the early hours of Wednesday morning – a silver for open water swimming and bronze on the track.

Femke Bol set a new European record of 52.03 on the 400 metres hurdles with her third place behind the Americans Sydney McLaughlin, who completed the race in a new world record time of 51.46. Defending champion Dalilah Muhammad took silver in 51.58.

Bol, who is just 21, said after the race she was delighted by her medal and thanked everyone in the Netherlands who got up at 4.30am to watch the race.

Bol’s bronze is the first Olympic medal the Dutch have ever won for the 400 metres hurdles and the second athletics medal of the games.

Earlier in the day, defending champion Sharon van Rouwendaal took silver in the 10 kilometre open water swim. ‘I could not have done any better than I did,’ Rouwendaal said, after completing the distance in 1.59.36. Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha took the gold.

The Dutch women’s hockey team are also guaranteed of a medal, having reached the final with a 5-1 win over Britain. They will meet either Argentina or India on August 6.

The overnight wins take the Dutch medal total to 22, just three short of their record. But with a guaranteed hockey medal and one for middleweight boxer Nouchka Fontijn, the Netherlands is virtually assured of beating the 25 medal total set in Sydney.

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